So, I can't say that I didn't give this game due diligence. I started with the Stracciatella open source engine re-write. After playing for a several hours, I found out the hard way that my boredom was due to a lot of missing features (like enemies not trying to retake towns with militia stationed in them) and also that stealth was functionally broken in the first stable build that I tried. Not being discouraged, I tried 1.13 since everyone seemed to be praising it. I had enemies shooting off four times the number of shots per round as my characters, meaning an insta-killed mercenary if you walk around a corner to scout (I'm not save-scumming through this game more than I have to). That leads to my final effort, simply taking the CNC-ddraw that 1.13 used and adding in widescreen support manually. While this was a nice upgrade from the 640x480 original resolution, it did little to help make the game more interesting. The game pacing is painfully slow after working my way across the Northern part of the map. Even with a sizable squad of mercs, enemies are seemingly still outnumbering me in cities 2:1. I guess maybe I could grind more cash and buy more mercs, but that just bloats the already tedious and boring micro-management of the tactical segments. In general, there are a lot of overarching design choices that I feel were in poor taste for this game in contrast to how robust the tactics system itself is. Maybe if I hadn't played the Fallout games before I even heard of Jagged Alliance 2, I'd feel differently; because I liked nearly everything about those games' combat much more. However JA2 is determining weapon/to-hit accuracy, it feels awful and unbalanced. Enemies have shot me through cover and walls while my mercenaries complain about 'being Harry Houdini.' I feel like that inconsistency was only amplified once modders started messing with the code in 1.13. Looking past the 'charm' of JA2, I can confidently say avoiding this one is a smart move.
I never played any JA growing up. The second game, and now the third, looked like cool experiences, so I bought the first two games on cheap. I took a couple of evenings to really dig into the 40-ish page manual (minus the inventory sections) to understand the game mechanics. For a 1994 game, the tactical strategy opportunities are quite amazing! However, playing the game, I found the micro-managing when entering a new region to be incredibly slow and dull. When you're in combat, things are tense as you use cover, sneak up on enemy positions, and everything else you'd expect from a tactical game. When there's one enemy you haven't found yet on a somewhat large map, moving 8 characters around individually at a snail's pace is horrid. I know Baldur's Gate came out several years later, but they had the system nailed down with RTWP. Slow the action down when you need it, but keep it fast when you have things under control. Even having a similar system where turn-based kicks on once an enemy detects you or vice versa would have been an improvement. I suppose the enemy logic is probably dependent on patrolling at the same time you are, so it keeps things fair. It's not a particularly bad game, as the underlying systems seem solid and incredibly well thought out. However, I did find it an incredibly dull and not particularly fun game to sink my teeth into, so I had to lower my score. Looking forward to JA2 and eventually JA3.
I remember playing a couple of demos for this game over the last 5-6 years. They held a lot of promise. What I've played now is really tragic, as the gunplay is fun, but the level design and pacing is horrible. I'm not even through the second level and I'd rather just go play Crysis and FEAR again. The free horde mode demo was probably the pinnacle of the releases. It's such a shame that I waited 5-6 years for the complete version this project, only to find disappointment in how barren and uninspiring the levels are to work through. I'd wait for a deep discount before dropping any money on this one.
The opening chapter is brutally awful. Lots of slow walking segments while the plot develops. My favorite was waiting a minute for the chainsaw guy to wander around a closed space so I could sneak by him....and then without making any noise, he somehow instantly gets alerted that I'm leaving the area and comes over to kill me. This game has a lot of stealth segments that aren't particularly interesting or well done. Once I actually got to an action segment, hardly any of the enemies dropped ammo. Even worse, when I went to aim, the camera perspective got all weird because I guess I also triggered an in-game, 'cinematic focus shift' or something because the reticle moved way off target. I'm fine with enemies that are tough to hit because they wiggle around or whatever. But when I have to fight the controls, too, I generally call it quits and just go play a better shooter; or something else in general. Lots of things TEW could have excelled at, but I wasn't particularly impressed by any. I would say the other biggest disappointment was the serious tone during the opening segment and then there's something like an anime villain teleporting around killing people shortly thereafter. I felt it really clashed with the gritty realism of about 10 minutes prior and what followed in the other chapters. I've heard the sequel is better, so just skip this one unless you are a masochist for a bad time.
The art style looks disjointed and ugly, straight away. Some things are HD and other things have this 'retro' voxel look to them. It's really unappealing. The game itself is slow and boring to start out. I was hoping they'd make the gameplay better than the original, but it's not much better; which is tremendously sad. If there should have been one purpose to this remake, it should have been that aspect. I guess I'll have to stick to engine remakes/re-implementations here on out if this is the kind of product that gets released after years and years of waiting for proper improvements to an antiquated game.
It seems like it's drawing elements from a number of other indie platformers, like Hollow Knight and Ori. But once you start playing, you realize that the traversal is exceptionally awkward. The movement system and level design seem deliberately contrived to make you hate the game as much as possible because you can't see where you're going. So, you end up getting stuck in extreme trial-and-error gameplay until you can determine which course you need to take through a segment. If it gets a polished re-release down the road, maybe consider it. As it is, I'd recommend passing on it.
